Saturday, June 20, 2009

Should artists let large profitable companies use their art online for free?

There is not much to add to the letter below by Craig Frazier, Member of the Society of Illustrators - I urge everyone to read about this topic. I remember discussions in other forums about artists being expected to work for free and be "grateful " for the exposure they get. One such discussion had taken place on deviantArt News way back in August 2007 - it seems that issue is never going to go away. Now Google has asked Artists to work for free also.

As reported recently in the New York Times, Google has invited prominent illustrators to contribute work to be featured as options for Google’s customers to use as skins on Google’s new Web browser, Google Chrome, in exchange for the “opportunity to have their work shown to millions” (in other words, Google would not pay for the artwork). ......More..........

June 16, 2009

Dear Google,


Thanks for your reply to my email—which I will take as an invitation to further engage in the debate. As the NY Times article and several postings on Drawger.com have indicated—this is a very important issue to the creative community—in this case designers and illustrators. ......More..........


Owen, Wickersham & Erickson - Legalities 32